Today’s Sports News: What You Need To Know
Latest – Stuart Broad grabbed his 500th test wicket to set England on their way to a resounding 269 run win over West Indies in the third and final cricket test at Old Trafford.
Broad joined an elite club, finishing with match figures of 10-67, as the West Indies were bowled out for 129 runs in between several rain delays in Manchester.
England won the first test series since the Covid-19 pandemic 2-1 and will almost immediately go into another three-match test series against Pakistan, starting next week.
West Indies were always up against it after being set an improbably 399 to win and losing the first two wickets of their second innings to Broad on Sunday, where they were 10-2 at the close.
Yesterday’s play was washed out but Broad did not take long to continue his heroics as he trapped Kraigg Brathwaite leg before wicket for 19.
“It was very special to have got (500 wickets) and even more so to help win a test that helps to win the series for us,” Broad said.
-Reuters
NBL wins for Otago and Canterbury
Otago will head into the National Basketball League semi-finals as top seeds thanks to a 105-80 win over Manawatu in their qualifying final in Auckland.
Tom Vodanovich was a scratch for the Jets before tip-off and Coach Tim McTamney also chose to leave Taane Samuel and Jayden Bezzant out of the starting line up.
The changes made a noticeable difference to their offence and was a big reason as to why the losing margin was so hefty.
The Nuggets will play the lowest-ranked winner of Wednesday’s elimination finals, leaving the Jets to battle the other victor.
Earlier last night Nelson became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament after going down 93-89 to Canterbury in their sixth and seventh place play-off game.
For the Rams, it’s a quick turnaround as they face the Auckland Huskies in the 5.30pm game on Wednesday in their bid to win four games in five days to claim the title.
When Reuben Te Rangi (11 points) put the Rams up 87-76 with four minutes to play it looked as if the Cantabrians would cruise to victory. However, they failed to score from the field in the last four minutes and a fast-finishing Giants almost ran them down.
Bennet returns to action
The Nelson cyclist George Bennett has finished 13th on the opening stage of the Vuelta a Burgos, the first men’s cycle event back after a four month hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Austrian Felix Grossschartner surged past the rest of the field on the final climb to win the first stage of the five day tour in Spain.
Bennett, who is expected to feature on the tour that includes a number of climbs, lost Jumbo-Visma team-mate Gijs Leemreize, who was forced to drop out of the stage after he suffered a finger injury in a horror crash with around 50 kilometres remaining.
“Gijs is in the hospital, where the plastic surgeon will restore his damaged fingertip in the best possible way tonight,” the team posted on Twitter
Team Israel Start-Up Nation suffered a setback before the start of the race as they withdrew two riders due to coronavirus concerns.
There are three other New Zealanders on the tour…. Finn Fisher-Black is in the same team as Bennett, while Patrick Bevan and Shane Archbold are also competing.
World Athletics to give out Vaporflys
World Athletics is to introduce a scheme to lend some elite runners the new shoes that have taken road racing by storm.
Athletes wearing the new Nike Vaporfly shoes took 31 of the 36 podium places at the six major marathons last year.
The shoe features a carbon plate which many other athletes felt was unfair, however World Athletics let all records achieved by athletes wearing the shoes to stand.
The governing body says the rules are designed “to maintain the current technology status quo” until the Tokyo Olympics.
The lending scheme will only be for those elite athletes without sponsorship deals.
-World Athletics
Rowing schedule confirmed
The final Olympic qualifying rowing regatta will now be held in Switzerland in May next year.
The governing body has released its latest schedule for Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic qualification.
The Olympic qualifier, which was originally scheduled for May this year until the games were postponed, will take place in Lucerne from 16 to 18 May 2021.
Nine New Zealand crews have already qualified for the Olympics, while the men’s eight and men’s quad will attend the final qualifying regatta in the hope of getting to Tokyo.
More baseball players test positive
Four additional Miami Marlins players have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases within the Major League Baseball club to 17 over the last five days.
The Marlins, who opened their season last Friday with a three-game series in Philadelphia, previously had 11 players and two coaches test positive for the virus.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading U.S. expert on infectious diseases, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” programme today that it was too soon to halt all MLB action.
Miami, whose home game for later today had already been postponed, are currently scheduled to open a two-game series at the Baltimore Orioles starting on Wednesday.
Today’s game between the Philadelphia Phillies and visiting New York Yankees had been postponed as some members of the home team await Covid-19 test results.
MLB had planned to open its 162-game regular season in March but postponed it because of the pandemic, opting for a condensed 60-game schedule that began last Friday in Washington.
-Reuters
Olympic qualification period for marathon to open earlier
Olympic qualification for the marathon and road race walk events can re-start from Sept. 1, three months earlier than previously announced.
However, qualifying for all other track and field events at next year’s Tokyo Games would remain suspended until Nov. 30 as originally planned.
Qualification was put on hold in early April due to the novel coronavirus pandemic which has caused the Games to be postponed for one year until July/August next year.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the change was needed for road athletes due to a lack of qualifying opportunities.
-Reuters
Exeter consider rebrand
The English rugby club Exeter Chiefs will hold a board meeting to discuss a possible rebranding of their badge and mascot, which feature a Native American, with a petition calling for an end to its use of “harmful imagery” garnering thousands of signatures.
“There is no place in a predominantly white British environment for appropriation of Indigenous Peoples’ imagery that has no relation to the history of the club, or the city,” the fans petition which has more than 3,600 signatures, said.
The Premiership leaders confirmed they would hold a meeting today to discuss the issue.
The National Football League’s Washington team said this month it would retire its ‘Redskins’ name and logo, which it has used since 1933 but which has long been criticized as racist by Native American rights groups.
Super Rugby’s Crusaders had retained their name but changed the logo of a sword-wielding knight after a brand review in the wake of a mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch in March 2019.
Source: rnz.co.nz Republished by arrangement.